Stringed musical instrument

ABSTRACT

A stringed musical instrument comprises one sound box having two sound boards each provided with a sound hole and a sidewall joining the sound boards, two necks provided for the sound boards respectively, two heads connected to the necks, two seal caps for closing the sound holes, and strings stretched between the heads and the sound boards, whereby musical tones having a variety of tone colors can be produced on both sides of the sound box.

0 United States Patent [151 3,636,809 Ezaki 1 Jan. 25, 1972 [54]STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 1,554,806 9/1925 Furia .114/263 l,723,75l8/[929 Turturro 84/263 [72] Inventor: Hideyuki Ezakl, Hamamatsu, Japan 0l A N [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakki Selzo Kabushlkl Kalshn, F RE GN P TETS OR APPLICATIONS Hamamatswshi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan 945,839 956 Ge many/26 1,176,826 I l/I958 France ....84/267 [22] mm My 371,723 3/1923Germany 84/294 [2]] Appl. No.: 52,842

Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-John F.Gonzales [30] Forelg" Application Priomy Dam Attorney-Kemon, Palmer &Estabrook July 10, I969 Japan .44/54439 [57] ABSTRACT [52] cl "84/263,84/267 84/453 A stringed musical instrument comprises one sound box hav-[SH 3" Cl "Glod lod ing two sound boards each provided with a sound holeand a [58] new of 296 sidewall joining the sound boards, two necksprovided for the sound boards respectively, two heads connected to thenecks, [56l Rderences Cited two seal caps for closing the sound holes,and strings stretched UNITED STATES PATENTS between the heads and thesound boards, whereby musical tones having a variety of tone colors canbe produced on both 1,773, l 33 8/l930 Faccaro ..84/263 X sides ofthesound box. 1,022,031 4/1912 Larson ...84/263 1,828,315 10/1931Cavicchioli ..84/263 3 Chill, 6 B

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to stringedmusical instru ments, for example, a guitar and more particularly to anovet type of stringed musical instrument having a double neck and soundboard construction permitting performance to be played on both sides ofits sound box.

There will now be described for convenience a guitar as an example,though this does not particularly limit the scope of the presentinvention. A guitar in common use generally has a constructionillustrated in FIG. I. Namely, the guitar com prises a sound board 12having a sound hole 11 therein, a backwall 13 disposed substantiallyparallel therewith at a predetermined space and a sidewall [4 connectingthe sound board 12 with the backwall 13, all of the board and wallscollectively constituting a hollow sound box 15. There is also provideda rectangular long neck 16 in a manner to project from the specifiedpart of the sidewall 14, the neck 16 having a surface substantiallyflush with that of the sound board 12. There is further disposed athin-wall finger board 17 on the surface of the neck 16 as well as onthe sound board 12 in a manner to extend from one end of the neck 16 upto the sound hole 11. To the surface of the finger board 17 are fixed aplurality of (often l9, but sometimes 23 or 27) frets 18 atpredetermined spaces which are progressively broadened as apart from thesound hole 11. To the one end of the neck 16 is connected a head 19which is inclined at a suttabl. amgie to the surface oi the finger board17. To the both sides of the head 19 are rotatably fitted a plurality oftuning pegs 10. At the bound-ar between the head 19 and the neck 16 isfixed a string divider 23 whose top plane just slightly rises above thatof the frets 18 A plurality of (often six, but sometimes or l2) strings22 are stretched between the tuning pegs 20 and a bridge 21 mounted onthe sound board 12, passing over the sound hole 1] and the frets 18 andon the string divider 23. The vibration waves of the strings plucked bythe player's fingers are transmitted to the sound board 12, causing theresultant resonant tones to be given forth from the sound box 15. Inthis case, the pitch of musical tones prodttced is defined by thematerials and diameters of the strings used as well as by their tensionresulting from adjustment by the tuning pegs. And the colors of musicaltones produced are affected by the material, shapc and size of the soundbox as well as by a plurality of wooden braces or brace members (notshown) fitted to the inside of the sound box 15. However, theconventional guitar of the aforesaid construction can only generatemusical tones having a single tone color.

FIG. 2 represents the characteristics of musical tones produced bytypical classic and flamenco guitars. The musical tones generated by theflamenco guitar display, as indicated by the curve 31, such soundcharacteristics as relatively sharply rise and decay, whereas those ofthe classic guitar exhibit, as shown by the curve 32, such features asrelatively slowly rise and decay. Thus, the conventional guitar is sodesigned as to give forth musical tones having only a single tone colorinherent to the guitar.

Further, the neck board 16 is always subjected to a very great bendingmoment due to the tension (about 30-50 kg. per string) of the strings22, so that there likely occur curva tures in the neck 16. While it isadvisable to use a thicker neck for avoidance of such curvatures, thiswill undesirably present difficulties in performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been accomplished inview ofthe aforesaid situation, and is primarily intended to provide astringed musical instrument having a double neck and sound boardconstruction so as to permit musical tones having a variety of tonecolors to be produced on both sides of its sound box. And another objectof the ir'eni t tr.- provide a stringed musical instrument wherein theend porti ns of said two necks are fixedly 'muolcd to earth ther throughheads connected thereto so as to mutually offset and reduce a bendingmoment applied to the necks by a plurality of strings stretched overtheir surfaces, thereby effectively elevating the substantial mechanicalstrength of said necks.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of aconventional guitar;

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the characteristics of musical tones producedby typical classic and flamenco guitars in common use;

FIGS. 3 and 4 respectively are a perspective view and a side view of aguitar according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively are a schematic perspective view and a sideview ofa guitar according to another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS There will now be described byreference to the appended drawings stringed musical instrumentsaccording to embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 3 and 4 jointlyrepresent a guitar according to one embodiment of the invention. Theguitar comprises two sound boards 43 and 44 having respectively soundholes 41 and 42 therein and disposed substantially parallel to eachother at a predetermined space, and a sidewall 45 fixedly connectingthese sound boards 43 and 44, the sound boards and the sidewallconstituting a hollow sound box 46. To the sound holes 41 and 42 ofthesound box 46 may be detachably attached seal caps 47 and 48 respectivelyso as to obtain a more variety of tone colors as explained later. Thereare fixedly connected to the predetermined parts of the sidewall twonecks 49 and 50 which extend substantially in the same direction inparallel relationship with their back sides facing each other. Each neck49 or 50 has at its front side a surface which is substantially flushwith the outer surface of the corresponding sound board. The two necks49 and 50 are integrally joined together at the ends which are fixed tothe sidewall 45. In this case, there should be provided between the backsides of the necks 49 and 50 along the substantially entire lengths ofthe necks a space into which the players arm can be inserted. There arefurther disposed on the surfaces of the necks 49 and 50 and on the soundboards 43 and 44 very thin-walled finger boards 51 and 52 in a manner toextend from the ends of the necks 49 and 50 up to the sound holes 41 and42. To the finger boards 51 and 52 are fixed a plurality of frets 53 and54 at predetermined spaces which are progressively broadened as apartfrom the sound holes 41 and 42. To the other ends of the necks 49 and 50are connected heads 55 and 56 which are inclined toward each other at asuitable angle respectively to the surfaces of the finger boards. To theboth sides of the heads 55 and 56 are rotatably fitted a plurali ty oftuning pegs 57 and 58. At the boundaries between the heads 55 and 56 andthe corresponding necks 49 and 50 are fixed string dividers 59 and 60whose top planes just slightly rise above those of the frets 53 and 54.There are further provided bridges 61 and 62 at those parts of the soundboards 43 and 44 disposed in the extension of the finger boards 51 and52. There are also provided a plurality of strings 63 and 64 which arefixed at one end to the bridges 61 and 62. These strings 63 and 64 whichare stretched over the sound holes 41 and 42 and the frets 53 and 54 andon the string dividers 59 and 60 are wound at the other end about thetuning pegs 57 and 58.

Further to the inside of the sound box 46 including the vicinities ofthe sound holes 41 and 42 are fixed a plurality of wooden braces orbrace members (not shown) mainly for reinforcement of the sound box 46as well as for adjustment of the colors of musical tones.

With a guitar of the present invention constructed as ties; sibed above,proper selection of the materials, shapes and sizes of the sound boards43 and 44 and the sidewall 45 and the materials, diameters and number ofthe strings 63 and 64 will enable one side of the sound box 46 to beused, for example, as a classic guitar or six-stringed folk guitar andthe other side to be used, for example, as a flamenco guitar or a 12-stringed folk guitar.

Further, there can be obtained varieties of tone colors, for example, bykeeping the sound hole on the played side open and the sound hole on thenonplayed side open or closed. Namely, where there is made performancewith the nonplayed side of the sound box 46 closed by means of the sealcap 47 or 48, the vibration waves of the strings plucked by the player'sfingers are transmitted, as in the conventional guitar, to the soundboard and cause resonant tones to be given forth from the sound from box46, thus permitting independent performance to be carried out on eachside thereof. On the other hand, where there is conducted performancewith the sound holes on both the played and nonplayed sides left open,the strings 63 or 64 on the nonplayed side resonate with the tonesproduced from those 64 or 63 on the opposite played side through theopen sound holes on the played and nonplayed sides, so that there can beobtained from the sound box 46 musical tones having unique tone colorsin which there are mixed said resonant tones from the strings on thenonplayed side with those from the played sided, namely, such musicaltones as resemble, for example, those played by the conventionallO-string guitar. Accordingly, the present invention enables a singleguitar to produce musical tones having a variety of tone colors byselective use of either side of the sound box.

FIGS. 5 and 6 jointly represent a guitar according tuanother embodimentof the present invention. In this embodiment, the heads 55 and 56respectively connected to the ends of the two necks 49 and 50 andinclined toward each other are fixedly joined together by a suitablefastening means such as screws. A guitar constructed according to theembodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 not only displays the same efi'ect as thepreceding embodiment, but also causes the bending moments applied to thetwo necks by the tension of the strings stretched along their surfacesto be fully offset, because the bending moment exerted by the strings onone of the necks counteracts the bending moment exerted by the stringson the other of the necks so as to extinguish itself, therebyeffectively preventing the occurrence of curvatures in said necks, andleading to prominent increase in their substantial mechanical strength,The further advantage of the invention is that the necks 49 and 50 maybe made appreciably thinner than in the prior stringed instrument andperformance is much more facilitated.

The same parts of FIGS. 5 and 6 as those of FIGS. 3 and 4 are denoted bythe same numerals and description thereof is omitted.

What is claimed is:

l. A stringed musical instrument comprising a hollow sound box formed oftwo sound boards each having a sound hole therein, said sound boardsbeing disposed at a predetermined space in substantially parallelrelationship, and a sidewall fixedly coupling said sound boards, saidsound boards and sidewall defining a sound chamber common to both ofsaid sound boards; seal caps detachably attached to said sound boards,each of said seal caps closing said sound hole; two necks extending fromthe predetermined parts of the sidewall with their outer surfacessubstantially flush with those of both sound boards respectively; a headconnected to each of said necks; finger boards fixed at least on saidsurfaces of the necks and provided with a plurality of frets thereon;and a plurality of strings stretched between said heads and said soundboards.

2. The stringed musical instrument according to claim 1 wherein saidnecks extend in the same direction in spaced parallel relation to oneanother and each neck terminates in a head 3. The stringed musicalinstrument according to claim 1 wherein said necks extend substantiallyin the same direction in a parallel relationship with their rear sidesfacing each other and said heads are fixedly c mn ected t ogether.

1. A stringed musical instrument comprising a hollow sound box formed oftwo sound boards each having a sound hole therein, said sound boardsbeing disposed at a predetermined space in substantially parallelrelationship, and a sidewall fixedly coupling said sound boards, saidsound boards and sidewall defining a sound chamber common to both ofsaid sound boards; seal caps detachably attached to said sound boards,each of said seal caps closing said sound hole; two necks extending fromthe predetermined parts of the sidewall with their outer surfacessubstantially flush with those of both sound boards respectively; a headconnected to each of said necks; finger boards fixed at least on saidsurfaces of the necks and provided with a plurality of frets thereon;and a plurality of strings stretched between said heads and said soundboards.
 2. The stringed musical instrument according to claim 1 whereinsaid necks extend in the same direction in spaced parallel relation toone another and each neck terminates in a head.
 3. The stringed musicalinstrument according to claim 1 wherein said necks extend substantiallyin the same direction in a parallel relationship with their rear sidesfacing each other and said heads are fixedly connected together.